A firefighter stands on the roof of a house submerged in mud and rocks Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, shows destroyed homes dot the landscape along San Ysidro Creek near East Valley Road in Montecito, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, mudflow, boulders, and debris from heavy rain runoff from early Tuesday reached the roof of a single story home in Montecito, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, Teresa Drenick stands in her sister's home damaged after heavy rains off Glen Oaks Lane, while Sean Bornwell retrieves some of her sister's personal belongings on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows the wreckage of two autos on the beach that were carried by floodwaters down Montecito Creek Tuesday all the way to the Pacific Ocean in Montecito, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

Thursday, January 11, 2018 10:20 am

Search goes on for Calif. mudslide victims; death toll at 17

MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ and ROBERT JABLON | Associated Press

MONTECITO, Calif. – Hundreds of rescue workers slogged through knee-deep ooze and used long poles to probe for bodies Thursday as the search dragged on for victims of the mudslides that slammed this wealthy coastal town. Seventeen people were confirmed dead and 16 were missing.

Family members anxiously awaited word on loved ones who hadn't been heard from since the onslaught early Tuesday morning.

"It's just waiting and not knowing, and the more I haven't heard from them – we have to find them," said Kelly Weimer, whose elderly parents' home was wrecked. The couple, Jim and Alice Mitchell, did not heed a voluntary evacuation warning and stayed home to celebrate Jim Mitchell's 89th birthday.

As search dogs clambered on heaps of wood that used to be homes, mud-spattered rescue teams from all over California worked their through the ruins of Montecito, an enclave of 9,000 people northwest of Los Angeles that is home to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey.

The flood left it strewn with muck, boulders, wrecked cars, splintered lumber and tree limbs in a scene Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown likened to a World War I battlefield.

County officials said late Wednesday that the death toll stood at 17 and the number of missing had been lowered to 16. After a better look at the damage, officials lowered the number of destroyed houses from 100 to 59 and raised the number of damaged ones from 300 to 446.

Overall, 28 people were injured. Twelve remained hospitalized, four in critical condition.

By Wednesday, some 500 searchers had covered about 75 percent of the inundated area, authorities said. They had a long slog ahead, filled with hazards seen and unseen.

"A lot of the street signs are gone, the roads are impassable. It all has to be done on foot," said Deputy Dan Page, chief of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department rescue team.

Rescue crews worked up to 12 hours a day and risked stepping on nails or shattered glass, or being exposed to raw sewage, or dealing with leaking gas, Page said.

"We've gotten multiple reports of rescuers falling through manholes that were covered with mud, swimming pools that were covered up with mud," said Anthony Buzzerio, a Los Angeles County fire battalion chief. "The mud is acting like a candy shell on ice cream. It's crusty on top but soft underneath, so we're having to be very careful."

Crews marked where bodies were found, often far away from a home, and used that information to guess where other victims might have ended up as the surging mud carried or buried them.

People in Montecito had counted themselves lucky last month after the biggest wildfire in California history spared the town. But it was the fire that led to the mudslide, by burning away vegetation.

"We totally thought we were out of the woods," said Jennifer Markham, whose home escaped damage in both disasters. "I was frozen yesterday morning thinking, 'This is a million times worse than that fire ever was.'"

Only an estimated 10 to 15 percent of residents fled when ordered, and much of the damage occurred where evacuations were voluntary.